Cardinals Silence Seahawks, 12th Man

Amberly Dressler

10/18/2009

The Arizona Cardinals snapped their win-one, lose-one streak with a 27-3 victory over the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday in Seattle. The Cardinals hold their first winning record of the season courtesy of execution in all phases.

The Arizona Cardinals dominated in all phases on Sunday against division rival, the Seattle Seahawks. The Cardinals took a 27-3 win over the home team and improved to 3-2 with the New York Giants on deck. The Seahawks fall to 2-4 with a week off to lick their wounds.

The Cardinals will still be playing catch up to the San Francisco 49ers who are on a Bye week with a 3-0 record in the NFC West. The Cardinals move to 1-1 in the division.

Kurt Warner set the tone for the game in the first quarter. He went 9-9 on his opening drive, established both the run and the passing game early, hit a variety of targets and kept possession for more than 13 minutes, which all added up to a first quarter lead of 14-0 (TD's went to Larry Fitzgerald and Tim Hightower). Overall, Warner compiled 276 yards and a pair of touchdowns.

Ken Whisenhunt did his part by keeping the Seahawks' defense on their toes. His play calling was sporadic in a good way, which kept the Seahawks' defense scrambling.

Tim Hightower(AP)

Larry Fitzgerald played a big role in the Cardinals offense on Sunday. After a relatively quiet first quarter of the season, Fitzgerald was back in a big way. He led the team in receptions and yards with 100 yards on 13 catches.

Warner continued to be diplomatic in his capability to hit all of his receivers. Receivers one through four chalked up yards to add to the box score. Boldin brought in 54 yards before sitting out with a sprained ankle; Steve Breaston registered 77 yards and his first touchdown of the season; Jerheme Urban rounded out the receiving corps with 18 yards on a pair of catches.

Tim Hightower also contributed to the passing game with 26 yards. Hightower earned 32 yards and a touchdown on the ground. Beanie Wells ran for 29 yards.

Wells got his legs moving but struggled with his hands. He was able to recover his own loose ball on his first carry of the game. In the fourth quarter, Wells barely held on to the ball again. Wells performance definitely didn't instill any more confidence in the rookie.

The Seahawks will also struggle with finding confidence. What they did find was a couple of scoring chances in the game, but they were unable to capitalize. One opportunity, which could have been a game-changer, came from a frustrated Seahawks team that faked a punt in the second quarter to give Matt Hasselbeck more time on the field. TE John Carlson went 42 yards to put the Seahawks in scoring position. The Cardinals defense remained strong. Kenny Iwebema stopped the possible touchdown run with the first sack of his two-year NFL career. The play ended in the Seahawks only points of the game, a field goal.

The ball exchanged hands a couple more times to end the first half, but the first two quarters ended with a 17-3 lead for the Cardinals (Neil Rackers added a field goal, his first of two).

The Seahawks continued to flounder in the second half. Their rigged offensive line never had a chance against a motivated Cardinals' defense. First-time father Chike Okeafor sacked Hasselbeck. Clark Haggans, Calais Campbell, Iwebema and Bertrand Berry also made deposits in their bank account with sacks against Hasselbeck who was also picked off once (Antrel Rolle).

The Cardinals' defense held the Seahawks to 14 rushing yards and 154 passing yards.

On the Cardinals' quarterback front, Matt Leinart received a couple minutes of playing time. He went 2/2 for 16 yards.